Teaching to Trust

Today was just another rainy day in Bremerton. Throwing rain jackets on and running from building to car in an attempt to stay dry as we ran errands this morning was my frustration for the day. Yet as I drove down the road and looked over there was a man sitting against a fence looking out at an open field, obviously homeless. Stop, a chance to share the Gospel with my daughter. You see when an adult looks at a homeless man we immediately think about what an inconvenience they are in our lives. Yeah sure maybe we feel good at helping out at the local food and homeless shelter in our town but when we drive by yet another person holding up a sign wanting food, I mean money, wait I mean food, wait they want to just take my hard earned money, and I quickly drive by because I really don't know what to do because I really don't want to be bothered by these feelings right now. I lose the chance to share the Gospel Message with them, and with my children.

Desiree's reaction to the homeless man was completely unprompted by me. She felt genuine love for that man. To see his situation change. She thought we could share our house with him. It's a beautiful thought. Sharing our house with someone that doesn't have one. I wanted to take this opportunity to share with my daughter that our human nature goes towards wanting to fix the problem rather than trusting God with the situation. Desiree wouldn't understand if I told her that we couldn't share our house with that man because we don't know if we can trust him. She doesn't understand what it means to not trust someone. Rather than teaching her not to trust someone I wanted to teach her to trust in God. I wanted to show her that God is bigger than that man's situation. That the best thing we could be capable of doing for that man was to pray for him! So she did and was it the most beautiful, innocent prayer about a man that was in a lost and desperate situation. She put her whole heart into trusting God that He loved him more than we could ever try to fix his situation.

Teasing

Ricky loves to be a goof ball, to be a comedian, to make people laugh. It works quite well most of the time however, it also causes a lot of sibling rivalry. Teasing, it's called. I viewed my brother as teasing me a lot. I resented him a lot for it. I thought I just don't want to be bothered by him. The truth of the matter is that when there's siblings there's teasing.

The heart condition is selfishness. At that moment the other sibling decides that they don't want to be bothered by that other person hanging around the house and they choose to lash out. The teasing sibling chooses to ignore how the other sibling is feeling at that moment and continues with whatever action they were doing.

Therefore it cannot just be handled with the other sibling that chooses to get angry with what might seem a minor offense because the teasing sibling is choosing to ignore the offense they created. Both sides of the coin need to be addressed. The teasing sibling needs to see that if they are doing something that is frustrating another they need to stop and find out what the offense is and the other sibling needs to express their feelings with a gentle answer. They both should listen to the other and come to a common ground that works for both.

My desire is to show them how to love their sibling despite their feelings or the actions of the other. Philippians 2:3,4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

A Gentle Answer

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

I want to be justified in my anger. I want to make excuses for times when I get frustrated in the moment but the truth is there is no excuse or justification. I know that but in the moment when I choose anger over a gentle answer I set that aside on my "Jesus" Shelf and climb up to the "Me" shelf. The "Me" shelf promotes my impatience and frustration. The "Me" shelf allows me to say to my daughter I'm frustrated that you're not getting this. Just understand that you should do this instead of this. That's not walking with her. That's pointing the finger at her and her sin.

What I desire in the situation is to redirect her to a better thinking. To show her how to apply the love that Jesus gives us to those around her. That means when she doesn't feel like loving her brother because of the actions he's taken that Jesus has asked her to love anyways and to show her how to go about that. I want her to know that even in her feeling mad and angry at her brother that I want to say I love you and desire to be by your side to help you through the situation. I don't want her to feel like I am angry at her because she is failing to love Ricky and chooses to use harsh words instead of a gentle answer. I simply want to show her how to use a gentle answer and the benefits that it reaps instead of a harsh word.